Archive for XR5 (Aurora) Medium Power Booster

Aurora X5 rocket “Big Red II” is progressing along. Nice warm temperatures allowed me to get a coat of primer on the airframe. Next step will be the trademark red speckle paint of the original Big Red booster rocket.

Big Red II with a coat of primer applied to the airframe.

The scheduled maiden flight for Big Red II is set for late March 26, 2011. That date may slip into April if the next Aurora rocket “Firefly” flight is delayed another week. Firelfy’s last scheduled launch window was scrubbed due to high winds at the launch site. Next attempt is set for February 26, weather permitting and my personal schedule permitting.

Perseus Booster “Columbia” ready for service again.

Both Perseus booster “Columbia” has been removed from active service for some design modifications to include anti-zippering tech into its design, as well as a few other needed. The scheduled flight for Columbia last January was scrubbed at the last minute in favor of Eagle because of additional maintenance needs found while preparing the rocket for that mission. Eagle had some needed repair work as well, but it was in a better position to fly the mission.

Both rockets are now 100% ready for active duty in 2011.

Work has also begun on a new Perseus booster to add to the existing fleet. Perseus booster X4-05 will be called “Asteria”. Asteria will have a number of features that will extend functionality to the Perseus booster fleet, including facilities for light weight video camera, and extremely light weight altimeters.

As you can see, 2011 will be a very productive year as our rockets are taken to the next step of operations and experimentation! More to come for sure!

Feb 13th Launch window

The launches for February 12 / 13th were scrubbed due to high winds. Saturday’s forecast called for winds of 20 MPH, gusting to 30 MPH. NAR safety guidelines call for flying in winds less than 20 MPH, and anything over 15 MPH is generally risky for any of my rockets.

There’s a possibility of a launch window on Feb 20th, but we’ll see. The next opportunity is Feb 26th – both are weather dependent. The next launch is scheduled to be Aurora X5 “Firefly” to perform a dry run of our dual deployment electronics. One flight on the Aerotech F-24, and at least one other on the Aerotech F-35 motor.

Big Red II status update…

The construction of Aurora X5 “Big Red II” is proceeding right on schedule. The maiden voyage of Big Red is still scheduled for sometime in March. The rocket is about 90% done. Some unique features of Big Red II include an experimental process to provide additional protection to the leading and trailing edges of the stabilization fins.

As I have been flying the rockets in the fleet over the past year, I’ve noticed how pitted the leading edge of the fins have become from all the rough conditions of model rocketry flight. The process under test with Big Red II should reduce this damage greatly. We will see how well it works!

Carina Shuttle news

Work is progressing on the design of first mock-up of the Carina RC (Radio Controlled) boost glider “Shuttle”. This work should be done by mid summer, and the goal will be for testing general aerodynamic properties of the glider design with the possible goal of fitting it with the required computers and electronics for self-correcting flight. If no major re-design is needed, next year should see the mock-up glider with RC electronics added into the mix for further testing and refinement of the avionics systems.

At some point in the process over the next few years, a test rocket design with a boilerplate shuttle will be used to test the aerodynamic stability of the entire system under launch conditions.

We’re watching the weather closely for this Saturday’s planned launches. All is good, except for the forecast wind speeds. At the moment, we’re seeing forecasts that are at calling for 20+ MPH winds. It changes from day to day, but weather conditions with wind speeds close to (or exceeding) 20 MPH are grounds to scrub all MTMA club launches due to unsafe conditions. We’ll keep you posted. The planned missions for Firefly on February 12th include the test flight (dry run) of our dual deploy electronics as well as our first launch using the Aerotech F35 engine.

In the meantime, construction on the next Aurora class booster rocket “Big Red II” is underway. Completion, and first launch should be in March.